


Happy to See You

by Anna2re



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Established Relationship, Gore, Horror, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26072896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna2re/pseuds/Anna2re
Summary: “It just feels like… like I don’t know. Something isn’t right around here.” Corin looks around again, as if that would help him decide his issue with the area once and for all.Din turns his full attention towards him. “Do you think we’re being followed?”“I—” Corin considers the statement, “No, I don’t think—I haven’t really heard—” He pauses, and then it hits him. “Do you hear that?”It’s silent for a moment, eerily silent. Even the child stops eating to coo worryingly at his buire.“I don’t hear anything,” Din says.“Exactly.”Din, Corin, and the child find themselves on a backwater planet in need of credits for repairs. While there, they find a job investigating the disappearance of a woman's missing husband.Once they arrive in the last know location of their missing person, however; they find themselves noticing many strange things about the town. And while they'd rather find what they came for and leave, they can't help but be curious about the strange happenings in this mysterious place.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret) & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 50





	1. A Bad Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **CONCERNING THE WARNING:**  
>  There is a description of gore included in this story; it's not horribly long, it's not until later, and it's not the worst, but it's there. You have been warned.
> 
> Special thank you to my wonderful beta, Joey. He is everything, and there's no way I would have gotten through all this without him. <3

The last couple of weeks had been rough for Din, Corin, and their child. Being chased around relentlessly by what felt like a new bounty hunter every day surely took its toll on all of them, but most of all, the Razor Crest was in real need of some repairs. As such, Din flew the Crest into the atmosphere of a backwater planet in the Outer Rim. The planet was not one that he had ever been to before, however, it seemed to be primarily filled with broad forests of dark vegetation with a smattering of small towns here and there. Anything but a desert planet for his riduur.

As they fly over a few towns and forests, Din finally spots one that seems promising. He brings the ship down closer to the surface until he’s able to spot a mechanic’s shop. He lands the ship in the yard of the shop, and as he begins to turn everything in the Crest off, he sighs. Din knows they don’t have the kind of money needed for the repairs the ship will require. As such, he’ll have to go into town to find a job or two.

Keeping this in mind, Din climbs down the ladder from the cockpit and enters the cargo bay. He heads over to the hidden compartment where he knows his riduur and child are taking a nap and presses the button to open the door. As soon as the door swishes open, the Mandalorian is hit with a wave of fondness at the sight of his cyar’ika and their child curled up together. He ponders for a moment how lucky he is to have found such a loving family, but he quickly waves the thought away. He can think about that again when the ship is fixed. For now, they have work to do, and with that in mind, Din tentatively reaches out to shake Corin’s shoulder in order to wake him.

“Corin,” The Mandalorian prompts gently, “C’mon.”

Corin grumbles sleepily, clearly awake, and curls up tighter into the blankets. The child opens his big eyes and coos upon seeing his buir.

“Mmmnn,” Corin lets out another groan as he finally opens his eyes and looks up at his riduur. “Where are we?”

“At a mechanic’s shop on some Outer Rim planet,” Din pauses for a second to take the child from Corin so he can get up. “We need to go out and find some work so we can pay for the repairs for the Crest.”

Corin yawns as he sits up and stretches his arms out, most likely feeling stiff from laying in the small compartment with the child for so long. “We headed to a bar?”

“Most likely.”

“Hmm,” Corin muses, “Give me a minute or so to get ready and I’ll be right with you, okay?”

Din nods, stepping back to give Corin some space to get out of the compartment. From there, Corin heads off to the ‘fresher, and Din and the child head out to speak to the mechanic about the ship.

Not long after, Din has finished negotiating a price with the mechanic, and Corin has long since joined his aliit outside the ship. As such, they decide to head off to the town tavern the mechanic recommended. Upon arrival, Din passes a few credits to Corin so he and the child can get food from the bar. Corin pockets the credits, takes the child from Din, and leans in to give his riduur a quick kov’nyn before heading off towards the bar in search of food.

After Corin and the child turn to leave, Din turns his attention towards finding an empty table. The place is packed—which should be good for the purposes of finding a job—however, he still needs to find a place for him and his family to sit. After circling the place once, he spots a suitably empty table near the back and claims it for himself. Whilst sitting at his newfound table, Din scans the room. He is aware of the fact that he _should_ be going around looking for a job at the moment, however, he decides to simply wait for Corin and the child to return before he begins his search.

However, as Corin would say, luck must have been on their side that night because not long after he decides to put a hold on his job search, a distraught looking woman walks up to his table. Before she’s able to say anything, Din silently hopes she’s looking for some sort of job.

“You’re… one of those Mandalorians, right?” The woman asks. Din stares at her, sizing her up for a moment before nodding. The woman sighs in relief. “Please, you do jobs, right? M-my husband, he’s been missing for two weeks now and—” the woman sucks in a stuttering breath, raising a hand to her face to wipe away a stray tear, “—I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

Din exhales deeply. This isn’t really his typical kind of job, but he can’t help but feel a little bad for the woman. Maybe he's gone soft since adopting the child and marrying Corin. Regardless, they do need money, so Din tries not to sound so exasperated when he asks, “Do you have credits?”

“O-oh, of course!” The woman reaches into a bag that he hadn’t previously noticed and pulls out a small pouch of credits that she sets on the table for Din to check. And upon further inspection, there _are_ quite a few credits in there—there might even be enough for the full repair job. Still, something feels off about this. He realizes the woman seems quite desperate to find her husband, however, there must be some sort of catch that warrants a payout this high.

Din sighs again—he seems to be doing that a lot today—as he turns the credits over in his palm. In the distance, he sees Corin and the child are on their way over to their table; Corin is holding their tray of food and smiles at Din when he notices his gaze.

Din turns his attention back to the woman. “Well,” he starts, only to be immediately cut off.

“Please, you have to help!” The woman says frantically. “I’ve been asking around for days, and no one else is willing to help me… I just want to make sure my husband is safe at this point.”

Corin picks that moment to return to the table with the child. He gives the woman a quick confused glance before turning to Din and giving him a sweet smile. And dammit if that smile doesn’t do things to him. His heart melts a little bit just watching Corin help their child get all set up in his chair. Looking at his aliit, he realizes that the frantic woman’s words strike a bit of a chord with him. He suddenly feels like he can’t send this woman away in front of his own family; especially if the money from this job will be enough to get their ship up and running again. As such, he somewhat reluctantly accepts the woman’s request.

The woman is immediately excited by the prospect of someone finally taking her job and invites herself to sit with them. She introduces herself as Nidalee. Her husband, she explains, is a merchant who headed on a trip to a town a few days north of their current location. He planned to stay there for a few days to do some trading, make a few sales, and would be right back.

“It’s been two weeks since then,” Nidalee says, wiping another errant tear from her cheek, “And this isn’t like him; he’s always back on time for his family… my children and I are just worried sick at this point.”

Nidalee went on to explain that she had been looking for someone’s help ever since last week, stating that she would go herself, but she's simply not physically well enough to make the trip.

Din nods as she finishes her story, cataloging all of the necessary information in his head for later. He stands without a word and looks to Corin to gather his things as well. Turning his attention back to Nidalee, he says, “We’ll leave tomorrow morning; check the place out and see if we can find anything.” He pauses for a moment to think. “Got any speeders we could borrow?”

“Oh, yes. I’ve got the perfect thing. I’ll meet you near the trail that leads through the woods tomorrow morning to see you on your way.”

Din gives her a quick nod of confirmation and turns back towards his aliit. Corin inclines his head towards the exit as if to say, “You ready to go?”, and Din nods at him, taking the child from his riduur when he reaches his little arms out towards his other buir. Giving Nidalee one last passing glance, Din starts heading towards the door with Corin not far behind him.

•••

Back at the ship for the night, Din, Corin, and the child are preparing for bed. Din is working on cleaning his blaster while Corin tucks the child in for bed.

Once done, Corin joins Din near the weapons cabinet and plops down with a huff.

“He had a lot of energy tonight.”

Din lets loose a small chuckle as he continues to clean his blaster. “Doesn’t he always?”

Corin smiles, leaning his head against the wall. They sit in silence like this for a while; Din cleaning his blaster while Corin rests his head. Stretching out his arms and yawning, Corin turns his attention towards their new job. “So, this should be interesting.” He says, making a vague gesture with his hand. “It’s not really our usual type of thing, so I'm interested to see how it goes.”

Din hums, finally putting his thoroughly cleaned blaster back in its holster. He’s quiet for a moment before he stands. “Corin,” He starts, moving to sit next to his riduur. “I know I said ‘we’ earlier, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to go. You can always stay here with the child, and I’ll handle it.”

With crossed arms, Corin huffs; he shoots Din a somewhat annoyed look. He knows Din is just trying to make sure he’s not forcing Corin to do anything, and it’s sweet but definitely unnecessary. “Din. We’re _married.”_ He says, a touch exasperated. When he gets no immediate response, he unfurls his arms so they rest at his sides. “I _think_ we’re in this together at this point.”

“Of course, _ner karta_.” Din replies, finally relaxing into his seat with an exhale. He puts an arm around Corin’s shoulders. “I just want you to be safe.”

Corin fully wraps his arms around Din, pulling him into a full embrace. “And I’ll be perfectly safe _with you_.” He doesn’t also mention his irrational fear about Din disappearing like their client’s husband did, but the fact stands, and Corin will do what he can to keep Din safe as well.

Wrapping his arms tightly around his riduur, Din sighs into their embrace. “Alright.” He concedes. “But let’s get some sleep before then. We need to be well-rested for this trip.”

•••

The next morning, Din, Corin, and the child are up bright and early to gather some things for their little trip. After getting everything they need, they make their way to their designated meeting spot with Nidalee. It takes about an hour or so of waiting, but Nidalee finally shows up with what has got to be the oldest, most rickety speeder bike Din has ever seen—and he’s worked with some _really_ bare-bones equipment before. That, however, is not the worst of it. The worst of it is that there’s only _one_ bike, and while he loves his aliit dearly, he knows sharing a single speeder bike with Corin and the child for a two-day trip is _not_ going to be fun.

Nidalee smiles at them as she positions the clunky speeder so that it points towards their path. “I’m sorry if I made you wait,” she says, studying Din and Corin’s somewhat disappointed stares directed at the singular bike. “Ah, yes. My husband took our other one on his trip, so I only have this one. I figured it’d be fine because I wasn’t sure if your… friend would be going as well.” She grins, looking Corin up and down appraisingly. 

“My _riduur_ and I,” Din corrects, “will do fine with the one bike.” He sends a slight glare her way, beginning to tire of her antics. He knows Nidalee cannot see his face, but he hopes she can at least tell he’s annoyed.

“A-ah, yes, of course…” Nidalee directs her gaze elsewhere, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

Din ignores her in favor of turning towards his aliit. “You ready to go?”

Corin nods affirmatively after taking a quick look into their bag. “I’m pretty sure we've got everything,” He pauses and looks over at the bike, sighing before he begins to make his way over to it. Din follows him over, climbing onto the old bike and settling himself in; Corin behind him with the child and their things. The old speeder takes a few seconds to start up, but once the rickety thing is ready to go, Din takes a brief glance back at Nidalee, offers a flippant wave, and they're off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translations:  
> (AKA I'm pretty sure we all know these ones by now but just in case):  
> Riduur: husband/wife; spouse  
> Aliit: family  
> Buir/Buire: parent/parents  
> Ner Karta: my heart  
> Adi'ka: little one  
> Cyar'ika: darling; sweetheart  
> Kov'nyn: keldabe kiss
> 
> Anyways, feel free to tell me what you think in the comments, but keep in mind this is the first thing I've written since like 2014 so please go easy on me. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story so far! I'll be back with more soon.


	2. The Terrible Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **LAST TIME:**
> 
> Din, Corin, and the child accept a job from a woman named Nidalee whose husband has gone missing in order to pay for the repairs to their ship. After properly gathering their things and taking a night to rest, the three set off towards the missing person's last known location on an old speeder lent to them by the client.
> 
> Welcome back to chapter two of 'Happy to See You'. Thank you all for your continued support!
> 
> And as always, special thanks to my wonderful beta, Joey. He seriously needs love for being so amazing and helpful!

The ride up to the northern village is largely uneventful. Mostly just forest trails through plenty of dark purple vegetation. They take a few breaks here and there; the child has fun playing in the leaves and hunting for frogs while his buire rest and stretch. On one particular break, Din is working on making dinner for the three of them while Corin watches the child once again playing in the fallen purple leaves. They're only about an hour or so out from their destination now, and Corin gets the feeling that there is something _wrong._

Nothing necessarily points towards it; the child is having fun on their trip and Din seems completely unaffected, but Corin is unable to rid himself of his concern. He can’t quite put his finger on what it is, but something is definitely wrong with this area.

Even while eating dinner sometime later, he still can’t figure out what the problem is. _Maybe_ , he thinks, _it’s just my imagination._ But when Din prompts him, he can’t help but voice his concerns.

“It just feels like… like I don’t know. Something isn’t right around here.” Corin looks around again as if that would help him decide his issue with the area once and for all.

Din turns his full attention towards him. “Do you think we’re being followed?”

“I—” Corin considers the statement, “No, I don’t think—I haven’t really heard—” He pauses, and then it hits him. “Do you hear that?”

It’s silent for a moment, eerily silent. Even the child stops eating to coo worryingly at his buire.

“I don’t hear anything,” Din says.

“ _Exactly.”_

Din pauses again, looks around, and realizes that, yes, Corin is right; it really _is_ eerily silent. The only things they can hear other than the sounds of the wind are the crackling from the fire used to cook the food and the child’s continued munching. There’s not a single sound of life at all.

A few moments later, the silence is broken by Corin. “I kind of started noticing earlier today,” he starts, looking down at the child. “He suddenly couldn’t find any frogs anymore, and then it started getting weirdly… quiet. I just don’t understand why.” He wracks his brain, trying to come up with something— _anything_ —that would explain why what should be a lively forest is this _dead._ Unable to come up with anything, he turns back towards his riduur. “Is there anything… that could cause this type of thing?”

“Well…” Din sighs, wiping a hand down his visor. “I could maybe think of a thing or two, but I certainly don’t like the implications there.” He turns so that he’s once again facing Corin, and when Corin doesn’t ask him to elaborate, he says, “C’mon. It’ll be dark soon. We should get going so at least we don’t have to be out here for another night.”

Corin nods to himself, stands up, and begins gathering his things. All the while, he can’t help but wonder if the town will really have anything better in store for them. 

•••

They arrive in town at nightfall. The small town consists primarily of one main street that’s lined with shops and houses. The whole place is surrounded by the deep purple leaves of the forest; they encroach upon the brick buildings on every front and snuff out any hint of light from the moons. A few smaller roads branch off of the main one, most notably, one that leads to a real eyesore of a barn. The thing is huge—you’d have to be blind to miss it—and it’s made even more eye-catching by the peeling paint, holey roof, and the fact that at least a quarter of the original siding is either missing or just holding on by a thread. That can _not_ be safe for livestock, Corin thinks.

Other than that, there are very few lights lining the streets, and absolutely no one is out. It’s completely dead.

Corin turns towards Din to see if his impression of the place is just as bad as his is, and if Din’s stiff posture is anything to go by, he’d guess ‘yes.’ But before Corin is able to comment on the look of the place, his riduur turns towards him and starts pulling out some credits.

“Here,” Din passes him the few credits he pulled out. “Be careful, and go straight to the inn. If people are disappearing in this town, I want you to be safe,” He pauses for a split second before he takes Corin’s face in his hands and pulls him in for a quick kov’nyn. “Stay in the room until I come back, okay? I’m gonna look around a bit.”

Corin is reluctant to leave Din out here on his own; he _did_ say people were disappearing in this town and while his riduur isn’t necessarily immune to this, he wants to trust that Din will be fine on his own. He _is_ a Mandalorian after all. And with the child looking as tired as he is after their long trip out, Corin decides that heading back to the inn for the night is most likely best. So, he agrees tentatively, leans in for one more quick kov’nyn, and heads off towards what he assumes is the inn while Din heads off in the opposite direction.

During his short walk to the inn, Corin notices a few things. For one, the streetlights are really much worse than he initially presumed. As he walks further into the town, it seems to get darker and darker, despite the lights’ meager attempts. Another thing he notices as he walks past the side street that leads to the barn is all of the locks and chains on its doors. He supposes it must be to keep the livestock in, but he can’t imagine why they would need that _many_ locks. _Though the building looks pretty frail_ , Corin thinks, _so maybe that’s why._

The last thing Corin notices are the people. He wasn’t necessarily wrong when he’d initially thought the place was dead; there was truly no one else out here except him, the child, and Din. However, the people were still _there._ Once he looked closer, Corin could see the residents looking at him intently through their windows. He has to assume they don’t get visitors often; that’s why they’re looking at him like _that._ It has to be the reason. Corin won’t let himself accept any other ideas his head comes up with at the moment; the dark, creepy looking setting giving birth to plenty of… less than preferable outcomes.

Thankfully though, Corin arrives at the inn before his thoughts can get too out of control. Opening the door to the inn, Corin readjusts his hold on the child and his bag, feeling slightly on edge. The child yawns and reaches up towards his buir.

Corin smiles down at him. “It’s way past bedtime for you, little womp rat,” The child coos up at him and closes his eyes, leaning his head fully against Corin’s chest. Corin takes a deep breath and is reminded to try to be calm for the child’s sake. _Everything is fine._

Finally feeling collected enough, Corin goes up to the Innkeeper’s desk and asks for a room.

“One single room, please,” He slides the credits onto the desk, pauses, and thinks about it for a second before he adds, “There’ll be three of us, and one bed is fine, but do you have a crib you could throw in as well?”

The Innkeeper, a gruff, older woman sighs to herself. “Sure,” she says while sliding the credits towards herself to add to a mostly empty bag behind the counter. “You sure are showin’ up late, though. Didn’t you say you had another person? Better let ‘em know they should get back as soon as possible.”

“O-oh?” Corin asks, suddenly getting a very bad feeling about where the conversation was headed. “Why’s that?”

The Innkeeper—Murphy—if the name card on the counter is anything to go by, shifts her focus slowly towards Corin. The way the Innkeeper’s eyes rake over his body makes his skin crawl, but then she smiles—and Corin’s blood runs cold. He knows immediately that he doesn’t like this woman, and he so badly wants this conversation to end, but… if it would help Din get information for their job, then he’s willing to put up with _Murphy_ for a little while longer.

“People… tend to go missing around here, ya know?” Murphy looks away from Corin and out towards the window behind the desk; all the while, that awful smile remains on her face. “When it gets dark in this town, children go missing from their yards, women disappear on their way home, and some men never return from the bar. They're oftentimes never seen again. Nobody knows what happens.” The Innkeeper’s eyes once again slide back over to focus on Corin. “But you don’t worry about that, darlin’. I'm sure your stay here will be simply _divine_. We do love our visitors, after all.”

Corin laughs nervously, not exactly sure what to say in response to that… _interesting comment_. What was he supposed to say, really? The Innkeeper was still looking at him with that creepy smile, expecting some sort of response. “Ah… yes… I’m sure our stay will be… nice. Uhm,” Corin, in his frantic search to find something, _anything_ else to say to at least change the subject, brings up the first thing he can think of. “So, that—that huge barn up the street. What’s the story behind that?”

“Oh, that old thing?” Murphy says flippantly. “That beauty has been in my family as long as I can remember. They keep the town’s livestock there. Really is just the jewel of the town, don’t ya think?”

Corin tries his best not to cringe, “Ah yes, it’s very—nice. Very nice.” Very nice _his ass. Is this lady blind?_ “A-anyways I really should get going, I’ve got—”

_BANG!_

The door slams open and Corin startles before he can finish his thought. Thankfully though, the newcomer is Din, so at least he no longer has to worry about his riduur potentially going missing on the streets at night— _thanks for that one, Murphy._

“Can I help you?” Murphy asks, giving Din a deadpan stare. She almost looks disappointed to have what she must assume is more business.

“He’s with me,” Corin says, beckoning Din to come stand near him.

“Hmm yes… the famed plus one, I see.” Murphy eyes them both up for a minute before finally offering a key to Corin, and suddenly, he realizes he no longer has a reason to stand here any longer. So Corin takes the key without offering anything but a small smile and begins to walk away from the counter in what he presumes is the way to their room. Decidedly anything is better than being back there with _Murphy_ at the moment. “You’re in room 4 on the right!” She shouts after them.

Corin continues his walk down the hall regardless of the Innkeeper’s shout and does not stop until he’s in front of the door shoddily marked ‘4’. His hands shake as he goes to use the key, and he drops it in his haste to get the door open. Din looks over at him, worry painted all over his visor before he shifts his focus to the key. He leans down to pick it up, and once he has it in hand, he puts it in the lock and twists, opening the door to the room. Corin promptly walks in, doesn’t even bother turning on a light, and simply flops down on the bed on his back.

The child, jostled by the sudden movement, wakes up and glances drowsily up at his buir, reaching out to touch his face. Corin covers the child’s hand with his own and shuts his eyes when the lights flick on.

“Corin?”

Corin takes a deep breath, lets out a sigh, and opens his eyes when he starts to feel Din’s gaze on him. “I’m fine—just not really a fan of this place.”

Din huffs, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Makes two of us, then.” Corin stares up at his riduur for a few seconds longer before closing his eyes again. _At least this way,_ he muses, _I can just lay here and pretend we’re not actually dealing with this place; even just for a moment._

And everything is great for those few minutes he has his eyes closed, but then Corin sits up, remembering something, and _oh look, suddenly we’re back to this again. Wonderful._

Swiping a hand down his face, Corin groans. “I forgot to get the crib for the child.” He looks from the door to the sleeping child in his arms, and finally at Din. “I’ll—”

“No,” His Mandalorian cuts him off, “He’ll be fine with us. He can share.”

Corin sighs in relief; not that he wouldn’t have for the child’s sake, but he really didn’t want to go back out to talk to the Innkeeper. Everything about that woman seemed to put him on edge. But Din is right, the child will be fine sharing a bed with them. It’s not like they haven’t done it before. As he settles back on the bed, he leans his head against Din’s pauldron in what he hopes is somewhat of a thankful manner. Corin really is more than happy to stay in their little room and _away_ from that innkeeper.

Not much later, they start getting ready for bed. Corin and Din both pile all their armor in a neat stack on the floor, and the child is tucked into bed between the two of them. As they settle into the bed—lights off, boots and armor all near the foot of the bed—they curl up together in a warm embrace, say goodnight, and mentally prepare themselves for the day to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translations:  
> (AKA I'm pretty sure we all know these ones by now but just in case):  
> Riduur: husband/wife; spouse  
> Buir/Buire: parent/parents  
> Kov'nyn: keldabe kiss
> 
> Anyways, feel free to tell me what you think in the comments. Thank you so much for reading chapter 2, and I hope you enjoyed the story so far! I'll be back with more soon.


	3. A Second-Rate Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **LAST TIME:**
> 
> Din, Corin, and the child arrive safely in town; but not before noticing that something is definitely amiss. Din goes off to check the place out while Corin and the child head to the inn. After a very interesting conversation with the innkeeper about the state of the town, Din returns just in time for the three to head to their room and rest for the night.
> 
> Welcome back to whatever this is; I truly have no excuses or answers. Thank you for returning to chapter three! I also will say that I apologize for changing the formatting and whatnot, however; I recently decided that while I prefer the indented look on my personal document, I think the non-indented look is better for AO3, as such that will be the look going forward. Sorry for any confusion.
> 
> As usual, my wonderful beta Joey is everything, and this story would not be what it is without his guidance.

The next morning, Din, Corin, and the child get up early in order to go around town and investigate. Although the day is new, the town seems almost just as dark as it was the previous night. And while the thick vegetation that lines the town’s buildings certainly doesn’t help, the dark clouds gathering above them are certainly at least somewhat to blame. Just from one initial look at the sky, Corin can tell it’s going to rain.

_Bad luck,_ a voice in the back of his head whispers. And while he tries his best to wave it away, Corin simply can’t help the feeling that something bad is going to happen today. That along with all of his other ‘evidence’—the eerily silent forest, the look of the town and its denizens themselves, and the _wonderful_ conversation he’d had with his new favorite innkeeper last night—didn’t do well to paint this place in a good light. And he couldn’t just ignore all that, could he?

For now? He’d try.

Doing his best to wave away his concerns once again, Corin hurries to catch up to where Din is talking to someone, only now realizing that he had fallen behind while lost in his thoughts. When he finally catches up to where Din is, he realizes Din is questioning the man he’s talking to about the missing person.

“Have you seen anyone like that recently?”

“No…” The guy answers lethargically. “I haven’t seen any visitors in oh…” The man glances off into the distance, his eyes glassy.

It begins to drizzle.

They wait in silence for the man’s answer, the only sound being the light drops of rain on the leaves of the trees above. The man suddenly looks like he remembers something, turns back towards both of them, and stares for a moment before smiling; his sharp cheekbones point out making his face appear gaunt and his cheeks sunken. And as abruptly as it appeared, the man’s smile vanishes. He quickly turns away from Din, Corin, and the child and heads back into his shop without another word.

Din and Corin turn towards each other and exchange matching confused looks. _What the hell was that?_

Oddly enough, this is how most of their day goes. They walk around, attempting to ask the residents and shop owners in town about the missing husband, but neither of them can get much out of anyone. Most people either respond in an eerily similar manner to the first guy or just seem straight-up too afraid to answer any of their questions. The people around here are actually beginning to concern him, and that comes as a surprise to Corin. He was fully prepared to be met with a town full of creeps like the Innkeeper, however, the general public seems to be about as dead as the streets at night.

Most of them are quite pale and gaunt, just like the first guy they questioned. And while pretty much all of the people they spoke to hardly gave them any information pertaining to their missing person, one thing remained true for each and every one of them: even though they’d stare blankly at almost everything else, they all seemed almost _happy_ to see them. Corin is hoping Murphy is right, and the people here really do just love visitors, because he doesn’t like to imagine the alternative, and he’s seen enough creepy looking smiles to last him a lifetime.

•••

It’s around dinnertime when they decide to call it quits for the day. They wander around the main street a little, looking at the mostly empty food stalls before they just decide to head back to their room and eat some of what they brought with them. Strangely, most of the places selling food didn’t really have anything out or were just abandoned altogether. The ones that did have food only seemed to have small helpings of meat that, if Din’s honest with himself, didn’t look all too appetizing.

So, they head back to the inn. On their way in, neither of them spares a glance at Murphy; they simply pass by and head to their room without a word. Once there, all three of them take a few minutes to dry off from the rain a bit before settling down to eat.

They eat in silence for a while; the child happily munches away on his food while Din sits there, frustrated over the fact that they’re no closer to figuring out what happened to their missing person than they were when they first arrived.

Corin, sensing Din’s frustration with their lack of progress, nudges his shoulder against his riduur’s. “I’m sure we’ll get some kind of lead on this guy soon.” He hesitates, considering the day they had. “Maybe the people here are just… wary of strangers?”

Din exhales, knowing Corin is trying his best to be helpful. “Corin, you can’t honestly tell me you're giving those reactions a pass.”

“Well…” Lifting a hand up to run through his hair, Corin suddenly directs his attention towards the ceiling. He sighs. “Okay, they’re weird. Downright concerning, even, but that still doesn’t tell us what’s going on.” He pauses for a second, “ _Or_ where this missing husband is.”

“No. It doesn’t.”

They're silent for a moment, Corin half expects Din to elaborate, and when he does not, he huffs, suddenly frustrated. “I know I’m actively trying to ignore—” he makes a vague gesture with his hands, setting his neglected dinner down in the process, “—all of this. But it’s because I'm so concerned that I—I just don’t even want to acknowledge it!”

“Corin—”

“Why is everyone so weird in this town? Also, why wasn’t there any food out for sale?” He stops, calms himself a little before continuing on his previous train of thought. “I thought the innkeeper said they kept livestock in that huge barn. Surely with a barn that big full of livestock, you’d think they’d have some options—at least more than whatever that was.”

Din shoots his riduur a somewhat confused look. “The innkeeper told you they keep their livestock in there?”

“Yeah?” Corin looks at him with a matching look of confusion, as if asking to elaborate.

“I checked over there last night, and there weren’t any animals in there at all. You would have been able to hear it.”

They both stare at each other, neither of them liking where this seems to be going.

“You know, now that you mention it, I didn’t notice any fields either…” Corin exhales, scrubbing a hand down his face. “So, I _guess_ that explains the lack of food in the market, but it doesn’t explain how these people are even getting by.” He pauses, seemingly deep in thought. “I mean, I know most of them seemed pretty malnourished, but they must have _something_ right? Otherwise, why would that woman’s husband even bother coming all the way up here to trade?”

“Right.” Din stops to think for a minute, yet he cannot figure out what Nidalee’s husband would have even wanted with this town. “Did you see anything someone might have come up here for?”

Corin tries his best to remember anything at all that he saw in the shops and stalls in town that could have been traded or sold. “No, I don’t think so.”

Din wracks his brain again, trying to come up with _some_ reason for people to come to this town to trade. A reason that would result in the people of this town getting supplies somehow. He hums to himself, before offering up an idea. “Could be spice?”

“Maybe?” Corin plays with the idea in his head. “Though I don’t see where they’d get it all from. Maybe…” he cringes, “Human trafficking? Something like that?”

Din lets out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s not unheard of, though it certainly seems a bit far-fetched.” He considers it for a moment longer before adding, “It would certainly explain the disappearances.”

“Right… People come into town, they wander around at night alone a little and get kidnapped. Then they're traded away for food or credits and the town lives on. And either that woman—Nidalee’s husband was either just another unlucky victim, or he knew about the human trafficking and came here to… I don’t know. Participate.”

“Could be.” There’s a brief lull in the conversation before Din continues. “I don’t think we should cross off other possibilities yet, though. For all we know, the guy could have just been in a bar fight and gotten himself shot or something. It’s certainly an idea, though.”

Corin scoffs. “Well, I might agree with you if they _had_ bars here.” He rolls his eyes, thinking back the absolute lack of anything in this town. “But I guess he could have… I don’t know, made some homicidal maniac from the streets mad or something.”

Din considers their options. “Maybe we _should_ go do some more digging. We might find something more promising than what we got from the people in town today.”

“Right now?” Corin looks at him somewhat incredulously. “It’s pouring rain, Din.”

“Exactly.” When Corin continues to look at him confusedly, Din elaborates. “The rain will give us some cover so we can check out places we’re not supposed to be.”

Corin gives him a look. “Where exactly are you suggesting we look?”

“What about that barn? Seems awfully suspicious to me.”

“Hmm…” Corin considers it, recalling his look at it the night before. “I do remember seeing the doors all locked up, and if there’s no livestock in there, then perhaps they are trying to hide something…” He scrunches his eyebrows together, suddenly changing his tune. “But that’s just the point—there’s no livestock in there. And if we know there’s no livestock because we couldn’t hear any—then wouldn’t we already know there’s nobody in there for the same reason? Who’s to say this missing husband is even still alive?”

“Well, the locks—"

“Might just be a precaution! It could just be to deter trespassers.”

“Corin.”

They both go quiet. Corin is getting awfully worked up about this place, and while Din knows this job has been making him anxious, he can’t pretend to ignore his riduur’s behavior anymore.

Corin in turn inhales deeply and turns away from Din. He curls his arms around himself and shivers. Their room suddenly feels cold. “I _know_ it’s _suspicious,”_ He starts, “I just really hate where this is going.” Corin’s eyes fall shut, his face falls towards his lap. “ _I'm sorry.”_

Instantly concerned, Din takes Corin’s chin in his hand and turns his face towards his own. “There's nothing to be sorry for.” He sighs, angry at himself for not addressing this problem earlier. “And if you're really so anxious about this, then don’t worry. I’ll handle it and you can just stay here with the child.”

“No! I—” Corin stops, seriously considers it for a split second; he _could_ stay here at the inn, safe with their child and completely skip out from all of this… anxiety that he's feeling. But he shakes off that feeling almost instantly. _No_ , he thinks, _I can’t let Din go out there on his own._ “I’m not going to let you just—just go out there by yourself.”

“Corin?”

They both pause, and this time, it lasts. Corin rakes a hand over his face; doing all he can to contain his emotions. Din can tell he’s at war with himself. He _knows_ his riduur is struggling with this job, and while he’s aware Corin will undoubtedly follow him anywhere, he truly wants nothing more than for him to be able to relax once again.

“I worry about you too, you know?” Corin says suddenly, breaking their silence. “And I know, _I know,_ you're a Mandalorian, and you can… you _should_ be fine, but—” 

_What if you're not?_

The words go unspoken, but they both knew what Corin was saying.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you—” he continues, “—what _we’d_ do.” The child looks up, suddenly brought out of his dinner by his inclusion in the conversation. He coos sadly, looking up at Din with those big eyes of his; and at that moment, he knows that even the child is worried for him. “So yeah, I’m going.”

Din sighs, resigned. “Alright.” He knows there’s no fighting Corin on this one. He’s made up his mind. So, Din shifts his attention to their child instead. “And what about him?” The child looks up again at his mention. “We can’t bring him where we’re going. Especially when we have no idea what we’re going to find.”

Corin groans, knowing Din is right, but he doesn’t like the option that that leaves for them. “I know that’s true but… I’m still worried about leaving him here on his own.” _With Murphy._

It goes unsaid, but they both know it’s what Corin means.

Din runs a gloved hand over the child’s head, garnering a sweet coo. “I know you're concerned, but he’ll be okay. Isn’t that right?” The child looks up at him with a sad expression, as if saying “you're leaving me?”, and Din’s heart hurts; but it’s for the best. “I’m sorry, ad’ika.” He says softly, picking up the child in the process so that he can be eye level with his buir. “You can’t come with us this time.”

Corin nods. “I hate to say it, but it’s most likely the best option for now.”

Handing the child over to Corin as he stands, Din looks towards the rain beating against their window. “Then we should leave right away,” he says, and while looking back at the child, _their child,_ he adds, “So we can be back as soon as possible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translations:  
> (AKA I'm pretty sure we all know these ones by now but just in case):  
> Riduur: husband/wife; spouse  
> Buir/Buire: parent/parents  
> Adi'ka: little one
> 
> Anyways, feel free to tell me what you think in the comments. Thank you so much for reading chapter 3, and I hope you enjoyed the story so far! I'll be back with more next Saturday!


	4. The Chilling Climax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** This chapter contains depictions of gore and violence. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
> 
> **LAST TIME:**
> 
> Din, Corin, and the child run around town in an attempt to gather clues about their missing person. After a long day of getting practically nothing from the villagers, they head back to the inn for the night where they discuss their situation. Deciding to look around a bit more before they sleep, they make the decision to head out to the sketchy barn, leaving the child behind.
> 
> And welcome back to chapter four of 'Happy to See You'. I'm posting this chapter early mostly because I have work tomorrow, but regardless, thank you all for your continued support! We're almost at the end, so strap in. 
> 
> Thank you as always to my lovely beta Joey! <3

So, they head out to the barn. At this point in the night, the town is once again pitch black; the meager lighting doing even less in the pouring rain. Corin and Din move quickly, aiming to get in and out as soon as possible. They're worried about the child being left on his own at the inn, but they’re also not too keen on being in the barn longer than need be. So the plan is to drop in, confirm or deny their suspicions, and be on their way.

By the time the two finally arrive at the barn, they're both completely soaked to the bone. Corin shivers, cursing the chills brought on by the cold rain. He’s glad to have arrived at some shelter, even if it’s probably the last place he’d like to take refuge right about now.

However, when they make it up to the doors, it becomes very apparent that they won’t be able to get through the heavy-duty chains and locks. There are several of them, and most are much too thick to cut through with their minimal supplies, so instead of going through the front, they find a suitably large enough hole in the dilapidated siding to climb through.

Corin ends up going in first in his haste to get out of the rain, and what he sees upon entering the barn is… totally nothing. The place is practically empty except for some hay, old rusty farming equipment, and the fallen pieces of the barn itself. Nothing of any interest whatsoever. And as Din joins him in the barn and steps up next to him, he seems somewhat disappointed.

Din curses under his breath, breaking their silence. He turns on his helmet light and begins looking around. “I thought for sure we’d find something.”

Resolved not to give up on their suspicions just yet, Corin lays a hand on Din’s shoulder reassuringly. “We still might, let’s look around some more.” And as much as Corin _doesn’t_ want to find anything, he’s more than happy to check this place off their list if need be. It surely can’t hurt to be thorough.

So, with that in mind, Corin starts his search near the back of the barn while Din heads over towards the doors. The two of them search around the barn in silence for a seemingly inordinate amount of time, neither of them finding anything of any interest.

The silence is broken by Din groaning in frustration. He tosses a piece of an old, rusted speeder bike to the ground before turning towards Corin and asking, “Find anything yet?”

“No,” Corin replies as he continues to sweep hay off of a few crates. “There’s not really—” Suddenly, a rancid smell hits Corin’s nose and he instantly recoils from it. He scrunches his nose up and waves his hand in front of his face, coughing a few times to clear his lungs.

Once he’s able to gather himself, Corin determines the smell must be coming from under one of the broken crates he just uncovered.

“Corin?”

He gasps, startled by Din appearing behind him without notice. “Did you find something?”

Corin takes a moment to settle his nerves before gesturing to the uncovered crate. “I moved some stuff around and then I—well,” He considers the smell, _knowing_ it’s probably something but— “It’s fine, something under there just smells.”

Din looks at him pointedly and he sighs before raising a hand to press to his forehead. “I’m sorry, we _should_ check it out. You know I’m just… concerned.”

Din nods and they both turn back towards the crate, eyeing it up suspiciously. “Here,” He offers. “Let’s move it.” Corin acquiesces, moving so that he’s on the opposite side of the crate. It’s a team effort, but when they finally get the huge crate out of the way, they aren’t disappointed by what they find. Well, maybe _Corin’s_ a little disappointed; considering he’d been hoping they wouldn’t find anything nefarious. Unfortunately for Corin though, that’s just not how things seem to be going today, because under the crate is a flat cellar door; unmarked and unlocked. It is undoubtedly the source of the rancid stench.

He sighs, preparing himself for the inevitable.

Din pulls out a blaster and turns towards Corin. “Looks like we found something after all.” He crouches down and grabs the handle to the cellar door. Looking back up at him, he asks, “You ready?”

Feeling uneasy, Corin takes a deep breath and pulls out his own blaster, giving Din an affirmative nod. Din turns back towards the door and opens it, and if Corin thought the smell was bad before; he was _kidding_ himself. The stench coming from the cellar hits him like a wall as soon as the door is opened, and Corin does his absolute best not to gag. Din somehow seems mostly unaffected, and Corin suddenly wishes he also had a helmet to protect him.

Ever the model husband, Din turns back towards Corin to make sure he’s okay before he begins his descent into the cellar, Corin close behind him. As they descend the rickety stairs, Corin does his absolute best to breathe through his mouth. The smell only gets worse as they go, and the unstable wooden stairs do nothing to quell his anxiety. _Whatever’s down here_ , Corin thinks, _I already know I don’t like it._

They’re about halfway down when it becomes absolutely pitch black. Din has the light on his helmet turned on, but it doesn’t do much to help. Corin can barely see anything besides Din right in front of him, and as such, he clings onto the railing like a lifeline; so much so that the old wood pricks his palm, giving him splinters.

The next thing he knows, he can hear the clap of Din’s boot against concrete flooring, and he knows they’ve made it to the bottom. Down here, the smell is so truly horrid, even breathing through his mouth hardly helps. Corin does his absolute best to hold in the bile that threatens to creep up his throat.

Once off the stairs, Din takes Corin’s hand, guiding him the rest of the way down. Now together in the cellar at last, Din turns his attention towards the room. His small light rakes over the space, casting shadows over mysterious shapes that Corin still has trouble making out. He can see the outlines of what he assumes are tables, and metal chains hang from the ceiling, clanging together as the building shakes from the pouring rain that pelts the roof above. Something hangs from those chains, Corin is sure of it, but he can’t quite make out what it is.

Before Corin can ask his riduur though, Din makes a sudden choking sound and lets out a light gasp. Suddenly Corin is _very_ concerned.

“What? Din—”

Corin stops, halted by Din’s brisk footsteps as he walks over to one of the closer walls, flipping a switch and turning on the flickering overhead lights. And in that moment, Corin's breath catches in his throat, and he understands why even his riduur had seemed shocked.

His eyes process the room in a flash, first noticing the metal tables, then the blood and knives, and finally, the hooks hanging from the ceiling. Hanging from the hooks are the shadows Corin noticed while still in the dark, and now that he can see clearly, he knows what they are.

Chunks of _meat._

It’s the least appetizing meat Corin has ever seen and for a second— _for a single split second_ —he hopes this is just some kind of butcher’s shop. But he _knows_ that’s not what this is because that’s not just any meat. Those are parts of _people._

Suddenly, everything is clearer than it’s been all night; he can make out every shape that hangs from the ceiling. Everything from arms, legs, internal organs, and _heads;_ all covered in their own blood; the same blood that covers the tables and floors in a dried splatter. Most of the flesh is far past rotten, to the point of collecting flies and maggots. Pieces of decayed meat litter the floor and tables underneath their respective hooks; and whether they’ve fallen due to the maggots and flies, or just due to the rotting itself, Corin can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the truly revolting sight.

Without warning, he gasps for air, suddenly realizing he hasn’t taken a breath since the grim sight was revealed. And suddenly, what he now knows is the smell of drying blood and rotting flesh permeates his senses. His hands fly to his mouth, but it’s too little too late; the smell along with the added visuals are too much for Corin, and while he does his best to look away, he cannot help the vomit that suddenly forces its way up his throat.

Din is at his side in an instant, turning him away from the mess and rubbing comforting circles into his back. Corin groans, clenches his eyes shut, and wraps his arms around his stomach.

Collecting himself best he can, Corin looks up from his crouched position towards Din. “I think—” he swallows down the bile that tries to rise back up his esophagus. “I _think_ we found our missing person. _Unfortunately_.”

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Din wipes a hand down his visor. “We’re definitely not getting paid enough for this _shit.”_

Corin chuckles darkly as he finally finds the strength to stand back up. “No,” He replies, “We’re _definitely_ not.” Risking a quick glance, Corin looks back at the mess that is the cellar and cringes at what he sees. He knows he shouldn’t be surprised; it’s not like he expected anything to change in the last few minutes. It still turns his stomach though, so he shifts his attention back towards their current predicament.

“Who could have done this?”

Din is silent for a moment, seemingly pondering the question. Corin is about to speak again when Din finally starts. “Judging by the—” He pauses, swallowing down his disgust, “—state of this place, no one has been down here for at least a little while.”

“Yeah,” Corin huffs, “and if this is what people are _eating_ here, then that would explain the lack of food in the market—as well as the malnourished residents.” He thinks back to the people they saw today—their pale, ghastly faces flashing through his mind—before something hits him like a freight train, and he has to do his best not to throw up a second time. “The—the people, Din… remember how they were all happy to see us? They probably thought—oh, _God.”_

“They thought _we_ were next on the menu.”

Corin frowns, curling his arms around himself and scrunching his nose. “How is this happening…” He asks, now somewhat frantic. “I—they thought the three of us were—” He stops, suddenly remembering the child is back at the inn. “ _The child!_ He’s still at the— _oh my gosh, **the Innkeeper.”**_

Din’s head snaps back over to focus on him from where he now stood inspecting one of the metal tables. “Didn’t you mention…”

“Yeah,” Corin says, scrubbing a hand down his face. “She said this barn had been in her family for _ages._ A-and she told me they kept the town’s livestock here, but—”

“She wasn’t technically lying when she said _livestock.”_

“Din!” Corin admonishes, turning back towards his riduur and away from the stairs. “Don’t say—” He stops, considers their situation for a second before changing his tune. “We don’t have time for this. We have to get back to the inn.”

Nodding with an air of finality, Din begins to walk towards where Corin stands near the stairs, however; just as they’re about to head back to the inn, a voice stops them in their tracks.

“Don’t move,” The voice says, sounding distinctly female. “And drop your blasters, unless you want this one’s head to get blown off. _”_ Corin gasps, an arm wrapping around his collar, locking him in place. The blaster he suddenly feels is cold against his temple.

Corin grasps onto the arm clutching his throat. He can’t see who’s behind him, but when Din turns to look at their perpetrator and seems thoroughly shocked, Corin has to wonder who it is. They had thought that the one orchestrating this whole thing would surely be the Innkeeper, but this woman’s voice doesn’t quite seem to match up; her voice is higher, and her figure is slimmer than the Innkeeper’s more heavyset body. But while the body-type and voice aren’t a match, they _are_ eerily similar. _And if it isn’t the Innkeeper_ , Corin considers for a moment, _then it has to be—_

“Nidalee.”

Corin gasps, swallowing down his shock and fear. When they’d first met Nidalee, he’d thought she was a bit annoying, maybe a little weird, but _this?_ He never would have expected this from who he thought was a harmless woman desperate to find her husband.

“Lovely to see you all again so soon.” Nidalee purrs, her face right next to Corin’s ear as she peeks over his shoulder. He’s instantly filled with dread. “You know, I didn’t think you’d discover my little plot so easily; I mean, I’d heard Mandalorians were good, but _this_ good? Now I'm impressed.”

Din, still holding his blaster, points it so it’s aimed just behind Corin. He tightens his hold on the handle, clenching his fist in what Corin assumes is anger at being deceived.

“Ah, Ah, Ah.” Nidalee admonishes teasingly, pressing her blaster more forcefully into the side of Corin’s head. “Drop the blaster like I said or your little—what did you call him, _riduur? —_ gets his pretty little head blown off.”

“Din—” Corin warns; not wanting his riduur to be unarmed in this situation. They’re not sure what Nidalee might do yet, and while he knows it’s _his_ life on the line right now, he can’t really seem to care.

However, Din completely disregards Corin and drops the blaster without much hesitation. Corin gasps, the clang of the blaster hitting the floor jarring him out of his thoughts. He meets Din’s gaze with fear in his eyes.

“Why are you doing this?” Din demands, raising his hands up in a placating gesture.

“What about your husband and kids?” Corin adds.

Nidalee leans her head back, letting out a wicked cackle. “Oh, you believed that?” She asks humorously. “It was all a lie. A ruse to get you to come to this town. I took you for a couple of suckers the moment you walked into that bar, and I was right. You should have just ignored me like everyone else did!”

“But _why?_ Why do something like _this?”_

Nidalee sneers, her mood suddenly turning sour. She scoffs, tightening her hold on Corin painfully. “Someone like _you,_ you’d never understand. You have _everything_.” She spits the word like it personally offended her, and with the way she’s talking right now, Corin wouldn’t be surprised if it had. “I’ve lived here my entire life, and we’ve always been without,” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “All of our livestock died ages ago; all of our fields ran dry. It was like our land was cursed. With nothing left to turn to, we hunted the surrounding forests to death until there was nothing left. When we were finally bereft of every possible option, some of us began to starve. In the beginning, we buried our dead out by the barn.”

“But one day,” Nidalee pauses and readjusts her grip on her blaster. For a moment, Corin almost thinks she seems remorseful. “A man wandered into town. He’d gotten lost in the forest and decided to stay at the inn for a night. But the next morning, he suddenly fell ill and died. Not wanting to bury him after we had already buried so many of our own, we decided on a _different_ way to dispose of the body. We ate him.” Hearing the smile in Nidalee’s voice as she speaks, a shiver runs down Corin’s spine. Instantly any remorse she seemed to be feeling earlier vanishes. “For us, it was only the natural outcome for him, and although he was dead, we all really felt _alive_ for the first time that night. So that became our way; we’d lure visitors into town and then we’d eat them, and when the visitors would run dry, we’d eat anyone out after dark. _Anything_ to survive.”

Nidalee clears her throat, suddenly shifting gears. “To tell you the truth, I was getting worried for a while. We hadn’t had anyone come around in about two weeks now, and I'm sure you saw everyone in town; they're all so hungry, and they're depending on me. So really, you saved me the trouble of killing another one of my family members, so thank you, I really do appreciate you _coming to my aid.”_

“You're sick, you know that? Couldn’t you just trade for food or something?”

“Oh, we would, darling, but it seems this method is simply… what works best. We get the food that we need, and no one gets hurt.” Nidalee scoffs, and begins to laugh once again, “Oh wait, yes they do!” Nidalee throws her head back, laughing wildly. As she begins to collect herself, she leans forward, pressing her face closer to Corin’s. She hums. “I always was a fan of _pretty ones.”_ She leans in even closer, to the point where Corin can feel her breath on the side of his face and then—

Corin abruptly gasps, surprised by the feeling of _something wet_ sliding up the side of his ear. He suddenly comes to the realization that Nidalee just _licked_ him, and he instantly shudders, doing his best to lean away, but Nidalee’s hold on him tightens and he’s forced to stay in his place. She hums against his skin, sending shivers down his spine.

“Mmm, _tasty.”_ She mutters against his neck, making Corin cringe. “I think,” She starts, raising her voice deliberately so that Din can hear her, “—we’ll have this one _first_.”

Corin’s eyes blow wide and the blaster pressed to his temple is suddenly all the more _there._ He can’t help but start to panic, his breathing suddenly getting heavier. And he realizes, years ago, when he was still a Stormtrooper with nothing, he might not have cared. But right now, he has everything he’s ever wanted; he has a husband, and they have a child together. He’s finally happy, and Corin realizes he doesn’t want to die like this.

Suddenly brought out of his blind panic by an abrupt movement, Corin’s eyes fly to Din as he takes a step forward, about to say something. Nidalee’s blaster is instantly pressed harder into Corin’s temple and he takes in a stuttering breath, but before Nidalee can give the warning for him to stop, they hear one metallic crash after another from over near the stairs.

Nidalee, with her attention still mostly on Corin and Din, chances a glance towards the stairs. “Who’s there?” She asks, “Show yourself!”

Careful to keep her attention on Din, Nidalee is quick to turn away from the clanging after she receives no answer. She knows if she gives him a chance, Din will take the shot. But just as she is about to really disregard the mysterious sounds as nothing, Din notices her face begins to look pained. Her skin pales and her lips open and close again and again as she begins gasping for air like a fish out of water. Suddenly not able to take it anymore, she drops the gun, and Corin and reaches up to claw at her throat.

Having seen the expression before, Din looks back towards where the clanging was and sees the child standing there with his small hand outstretched and eyes closed. Seeing his opening, Din doesn’t hesitate; he whips out another blaster, aims, and takes the shot.

Nidalee goes down after the blaster bolt hits her square in the forehead; her lifeless corpse falls dead to the floor, her skull bashing on the concrete in finality.

Finally free from her grasp and still in shock over the whole event, Corin makes the mistake of looking at the carnage. Nidalee’s blood spills out over the already present stains, creating a rather gruesome scene. And while Corin bears no remorse towards the woman who led them on a wild goose chase with the intention of eating them in the end, he does feel _something_ at watching Nidalee’s lifeless body bleed out. He feels for her previous victims—a group that he himself was very close to joining—who he’s sure don’t deserve to rest here with _her_ forever. His only solace is knowing that at least Nidalee will most likely rot here like the rest of her leftover victims—an ironic end for her. Or perhaps she won’t, Corin wouldn’t be surprised with this town.

However, he knows that’s not something they can worry about at the moment; because right now, they need to leave this place as soon as possible. Unfortunately for Corin though, his legs choose that moment to give out, and he cannot find it in himself to stand. With the shock still present and the sound of the blaster still ringing in his ears, he’s not at all surprised when he finds himself on his knees.

Din is there in a moment’s notice; after rushing to grab the child, he hurries over to where Corin is collapsed on the floor.

“Corin!” He exclaims, kneeling down so they’re face-to-face. The child rests safely in his arms, his small head slumped against his buir’s chest plate; most likely tired from a combination of the active day they’d had as well as from using his powers. “Are you okay?”

Din is obviously worried for him, but Corin waves him off. “I’m fine,” He says, pushing himself up into a sitting position. “Grab anything useful off of her quickly, we need to _leave_.” Din turns his attention back towards Nidalee at Corin’s insistence, searching through her pockets and bag while Corin gathers his strength and pushes himself back up.

His Mandalorian is quickly back at his side to help him stand, placing his arm around Corin’s shoulders to steady him. “I got the credits for the ship,” Din says as they begin to head back towards the stairs. “We just need to get back to the inn, grab our things, and get out of this place.”

Corin nods, taking one final look back at the mess that is the barn’s cellar. He has to believe that this is the worst of it; they’ll head back to the inn, grab their things, and go. He sighs, turning back towards the stairs.

Somehow, he doesn’t really believe it’ll be _that_ easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translations:  
> Riduur: husband/wife; spouse  
> Buir/Buire: parent/parents
> 
> This chapter was kind of a crazy one, but hopefully, it delivers on the spooky front. Anyways, feel free to tell me what you think in the comments! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story so far! I'll be back with the final chapter next Saturday where these three are gonna make their daring escape, so stay tuned!


	5. A Frightful Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** This chapter contains _minor_ depictions of gore and violence. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
> 
> **LAST TIME:**
> 
> After going to the barn and finding a horrific cannibalism operation being run in the cellar, Din and Corin discover that the one running the whole thing was their client, Nidalee. After a thrilling confrontation in which Nidalee ends up dead, Din, Corin, and the child--who followed them to the barn--must now make their escape from the town.
> 
> Welcome back to the final chapter of 'Happy to See You'. Thank you all for your continued support. More on this at the end, so please enjoy the finale.
> 
> And as always, thank you so much to my amazing beta, Joey! I appreciate his support on this story so much; this story for sure would not be what it is without him, so thank you, Joey!!! <3

Din and Corin rush out of the barn, their exhausted child cradled in Din’s arms. Not even a minute after stepping into the rain, the three are once again completely soaked to the bone, any semblance of dryness they’d found within the shelter of the barn instantly forgotten. However, unsurprisingly, the three of them find it hard to worry about getting wet after what they’d just witnessed.

“The speeder is parked out near the back of the inn,” Din shouts over the sound of the pounding downpour as they rush back into town. “We’ll get in, grab all of our things, and get to the bike.”

Corin nods in response, rushing alongside Din. They’re on a mission now, Corin knows this. They need to get out of here as soon as possible, however he can’t help but feel like they're being watched. And while he does his best to ignore the feeling, he comes to realize that it isn’t just a feeling; it’s a fact.

The residents, while hard to notice at first, are certainly staring them down from the windows of their homes, just like on the first night they’d arrived. He knows the people are watching them—he can feel their eyes follow them through the streets—and now that he knows _why_ they're staring, Corin has to try even harder to block them out and just go. Unfortunately for him, even the deafening sounds of the rain don’t help to thwart his unease.

The trip back to the inn isn’t a short one; the rain aiding in the town’s general lack of light and visibility, making what should be a short walk a long one. The streetlights that once dotted the roadsides are now completely dark; no longer offering their minimal spots of comfort. However, despite the apparent darkness, the interval flashes of lightning are enough to let them see the way back to the inn, and subsequently the few villagers who begin to stream into the streets.

Said villagers are slowly gathering outside. They form into a small mob by the time Din, Corin, and the child finally near the inn, and to say Corin is anxious to get inside again would be an understatement. Anything to get away from the prying eyes of the villagers he can feel boring a hole into the back of his head. 

Finally arriving at the inn, they step through the threshold only to rush down the hallway towards their room, not even taking time to worry about drying themselves off. Oddly enough, Corin notes that Murphy does not sit at the front desk when they pass it by. He files this thought away for now though, as they need to be focused on getting their things and getting out.

They reach their room shortly after. Din whips out the key and is quick to unlock the door and rush in, not even bothering to turn on the lights. He immediately starts gathering their things, and Corin follows suit without a word.

Shoving item after item into their main bag, Corin’s movements are quick and frantic. And when nothing else of value remains for him to pack, he zips up the bag and slings it over one shoulder, turning towards Din with a certain urgency in his eyes.

Din is by his side in a moment’s notice, the child in his arms. However, just before Corin is about to turn towards the door so they can leave, he is shocked by a sudden flash of lightning from outside.

The dark room is illuminated by the flash for a split second, and then it is dark once again. The loud crash of thunder that follows is enough to jar Corin out of his surprise. He tightens his hold on the bag and finally turns towards the room’s door, ready to leave. He and Din take a few steps towards their exit before the space is yet again illuminated by the harsh light from outside, this time, revealing the clear silhouette of someone in their doorway.

Thunder crashes yet again, and Corin gasps, surprised. He clutches the strap of their bag tighter, his knuckles turning white. Although he can’t see her face with the backlighting that falls over her silhouette, he cannot deny that the heavyset body that he sees can belong to no one else in this town but the Innkeeper. And while he cannot necessarily confirm it for sure, he has to assume that Murphy is involved in the cannibalism in some way, the barn being owned by her family, and most importantly, her larger figure pointing to her having _some_ source of food.

Corin shivers, the cold from the rain suddenly setting in. He was surprised to not see her at the front desk but had been hoping to have seen the last of her.

“You’re leaving already?” The Innkeeper asks, her voice surely confirming her identity. “We really hoped you’d stay for dinner…”

Suddenly Corin is frozen in fear, Murphy’s voice chilling him to the bone. Murphy was surely in on it, but now she stood in their way and for whatever reason, Corin could not find it in himself to take another step towards her. Din, however, seems to find no qualms with Murphy. Sensing his riduur’s fear and discomfort, he takes Corin’s hand and squeezes it in a reassuring gesture before taking a few long steps, putting them in front of the doorway. Din does not hesitate to pull Corin along, pushing them both past Murphy without a word.

She calls out to them as they begin to rush towards the exit, similarly to how she had called out their room number the night before. Sinister intentions all but revealed now, “Come back!” She cries, “ _We need you!”_

Neither of them pays her any mind, simply quickening their pace.

They reach the door to the inn and exit into the rainy night yet again. The downpour seems to have worsened substantially, the streets now being flooded with water, mud, and _people._

Corin sees them as soon as they step out, and although he’s really doing his best not to panic right now—because he _can’t—_ the utter looks of hunger and desperation they get from the residents of the town as soon as they exit the inn are _absolutely terrifying._ However, while Corin briefly pauses at the sight of the people before him, Din is on a mission. He needs to get his aliit safely out of this situation, and so he turns away from the people, ignoring them. Clutching Corin’s hand tighter in his own, he pulls his riduur along, booking it to their ride.

Their pace is fast, and both Corin and Din have to do their best to maintain their balance as they slosh through the streets. But though they do try to focus on the task at hand, certain things are becoming harder to ignore. Even through the sounds of the pouring rain, the flashing lightning, and the booming thunder, the frantic shouts and screams of the people now chasing them bleed through. Corin can hear their rapid footsteps splash through the same puddles they themselves just passed through, and although he would love nothing more than to pretend that _everything is fine_ , the agonizing screams for them to _“Come back!”_ bore deep into his mind, bringing forth more adrenaline and fear.

The pounding in his ears is suddenly so awful—so impossible to ignore—that he’s forced to focus on it. The pounding of the rain, their own footsteps, the footsteps chasing them— _the screams—_ suddenly, everything is quiet in his mind. For a split second, the sounds seem to cancel out, and the pounding stops, leaving him in a slight daze as his mind halts but his legs continue as if on autopilot.

This doesn’t last for long however, as Corin is suddenly brought out of his slight calm by a foreign hand seizing his arm. Caught off-guard, he panics, lashing out in defense. He successfully hits his assailant, but loses his balance in the process, going down in a particularly slippery, mud-covered section of road.

Hearing Corin cry out and feeling his riduur’s hand suddenly ripped out of his own, Din is quick to whip around, blaster at the ready. He stops in his tracks, noticing Corin collapsed on the ground, and upon seeing the man— _the cannibal_ —fighting to take hold of his riduur, Din rushes forward and kicks the man _hard_ , sending him flying into a puddle a few feet away. Taking up a stance in front of Corin and tightening his hold on their exhausted child, Din begins blasting anyone who gets close to them.

“Corin!” He shouts over the deafening rain, urgency in his voice. He stands strong, knowing he needs to defend until his riduur can get back up again. However, anxiety takes hold of him in the urgency of the situation, and he finds himself counting the seconds that it takes for Corin to get up, each feeling like a year.

_One._

Another blaster bolt fired. A hit.

_Two._

Another villager falls, their scream of pure agony at being shot through the chest breaking through the rain.

_Three—_

“C’mon!” Din feels a tug on his cloak, and suddenly Corin is on his feet again, ready to run.

Din holsters his blaster, turning his back on the mob. They race to the back of the inn where the bike is parked, going as fast as they can. The shouts from the cannibals now actively chasing them giving them plenty of motivation.

Turning the final corner after what feels like an eternity, they finally spot the speeder. When it’s within reach, they waste no time, and both hop on. Din practically tosses the child to Corin as he turns his attention towards attempting to start the speeder. _Attempting_ , being the operative word here, because it quickly becomes apparent that the rickety thing refuses to start.

The sounds of the stalling engine of the speeder quickly wash away any relief that they were feeling upon initially reaching the bike, immediately letting the panic once again set in as Din is frantically trying to get the bike to start, and Corin turns back, seeing the crowd of villagers advancing towards them from around the corner. He gasps but is quick to draw his own blaster and begins to shoot at the cannibals just as Din had done for him just minutes ago.

However, unlike minutes ago where they were able to collect themselves and keep running, they do not have that luxury now. They cannot run forever, especially with the added weight of their things and the child, and so their only hope for the moment is a speeder bike that will not start.

The crowd continues to advance upon their position, and Corin does his best to shoot anyone who gets too close, but the rain and the fatigue of everything that they had gone through today is really starting to wear on him, so much so that more and more cannibals are getting closer to their position than he’d like. Some of them are even able to graze the back of the bike or his arm before he’s able to take them out. In short: they’re being overwhelmed. And perhaps it hadn’t seemed like it when they had been out during the day, but there were a _lot_ of people in this town; simply too many for them to handle. If something didn’t change soon, they’d most likely be joining Nidalee back in the basement.

Thankfully, when Corin blasts down a few more villagers who get much too close for his liking, as if on cue he hears the sound of the bike finally starting. Corin gasps yet again, turning towards the front of the bike at the sound of the engine; a mistake.

He’s forced to turn right back around when he feels someone _lunge_ at his arm, and he cries out in pain when the aforementioned assailant sinks their teeth into him.

Lightning flashes at that moment, showing him the face of Murphy, her somewhat sharp teeth buried in his flesh.

Corin does his best to yank his arm back towards himself in his haste to escape the pain of the teeth breaking his skin. Murphy stumbles as she's forced to lurch forward, putting her off-balance. Seeing his chance, Corin doesn’t hesitate. He fires on her, and at this close a range, the blaster bolt goes straight through her forehead. The shock from it forces her from his arm, a burst of blood splattering out from the wound to paint Corin’s arm and clothing, mixing with a combination of his own blood and the mud from his fall.

Unable to find it in himself to care at the moment, Corin turns and grabs hold of Din as the bike _finally_ lurches forward into a hurry, carrying them away from the wretched town.

Neither of them looks back.

•••

Days later, Din, Corin, and the child arrive back in the original town where they left the ship. The bike had finally broken down about halfway back and walking the rest of the way to their ship really wasn’t a pleasant experience. All three of them were absolutely exhausted, not having slept much. That combined with the three of them being practically covered in mud, sweat, and dried blood did not paint a pretty picture.

At this point however, none of them can find it in themselves to care about appearances. They just need to get to the ship, pay the mechanic, and leave this place once and for all. They can worry about cleaning up later.

Arriving back at the mechanic’s shop around sunset, they pass under the shop’s comically large sign marked “ _Jackson’s”._ Din rolls his eyes, disregarding the half-flickered-out, tacky sign, opting instead to go find the mechanic who he has to assume is ‘Jackson’, Corin and the child in tow. They find the mechanic sitting in an office, his feet up on his desk and a hat over his face. The soft snores the man emits make Din roll his eyes once again, having had enough bullshit for a lifetime lately.

Impatient to leave, Din whips out Nidalee’s stolen credits and tosses the pouch so it lands directly on the mechanic’s gut, waking him with a fright and causing him to fall from his chair. Din turns back towards the door, not caring to see the man sputter and attempt to gather himself. He ushers Corin back towards where their ship is within the yard.

“Hey!” Din stops in his tracks momentarily, the mechanic calling out to them. “You’re short a few credits!”

Din grumbles to himself, stomping back over to the man. He’s clearly ready to be done with this place, yet this mechanic has the nerve to call him back. He pulls out a few credits and slaps them into the outstretched hand of the mechanic, instantly crossing his arms afterwards. He knows they're getting somewhat scammed, but he just wants to leave without any more issues.

“That good enough for you?” Din asks, annoyance laced in his words.

The mechanic takes his sweet time counting out the credits, smiling to himself. Din huffs in irritation. “Yeah…” He finally responds, “This should work fine.”

Din scoffs and turns to head back to the Razor Crest where Corin and the child are already heading up the ramp, looking half-asleep.

“By the way—” Din’s head snaps back to the mechanic, causing a slight pain from the quick movement. “Ya’ll look like shit, where the hell did you find work?”

Clenching his fists, Din takes in a deep breath. “The town up north,” He answers, waving his gloved hand in a dismissive gesture. He continues to walk back towards the ship as he responds, mentally done with the conversation three times over now.

“Oh really?” The mechanic asks, looking surprised. Din pauses suddenly somewhat interested in the man’s response. “You gotta be careful out there, from what I heard, people have been going missing in that place.”

Din huffs, turning back towards the ship and making his way up the ramp. “Yeah,” He responds, an air of exasperation in his voice. “Thanks for the warning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Translations:  
> Riduur: husband/wife; spouse  
> Aliit: family
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos! It's been a wild ride getting back into writing, so the engagement means a lot to me. 
> 
> Unfortunately, however, this may be the end of my short writing career. With the way this story went and the general response, I’m just not sure I should keep writing. I’ve honestly felt really discouraged with this whole process, and I just don’t know if I really have the talent for this sort of thing. I really do appreciate anyone at all who commented, left kudos, bookmarked, and all that, because y’all are the only reason I made it through this whole thing to begin with, but while I’d like to give you an upbeat ending and tell you I’ll be back with more soon, I’m so sorry to say that I’m not sure that I will.
> 
> Anyways, thank you all so so much for the experience—it really has been a time—and I appreciate each and every one of you for reading. I truly hope you enjoyed the story, and goodbye for now.


End file.
